John Shepherd

Over thirty years later, the ‘winter of discontent’ of 1978–79 still resonates in British politics. On 22 January 1979, 1.5 million workers were on strike. Industrial unrest swept Britain in an Arctic winter. Militant shop stewards blocked medical supplies to hospitals; mountains of rubbish remained uncollected; striking road hauliers threatened to bring the country to a standstill; even the dead were left unburied. Within weeks, the beleaguered Callaghan Labour government fell from power. In the 1979 general election, Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister, beginning eighteen years of unbroken Conservative rule. Based on a wide range of newly available historical sources and key interviews, this full-length account breaks new ground, analysing the origins, character and impact of a turbulent period of industrial unrest. This important study will appeal to all those interested in contemporary history and British politics.

The 1970s is remembered as a decade of punk rock, the 'Winter of Discontent', 'Bloody Sunday' and 'The Female Eunuch'. The iconic images of the '70s, from the break-up of the Beatles to the striking Merseyside graveyard diggers and mountains of municipal rubbish in Leicester Square, provide a glimpse into the extraordinary contrasts of the decade. Britain in the 1970s has been painted as a country in crisis, but the country also experienced huge positive social and cultural shifts, with the blossoming of modern feminism, the Gay Liberation Front, and the establishment of the Commission for Racial Equality. The high street enjoyed the impact of new technology and new brands, and global travel was brought within the reach of many. Here the authors reassess a decade rich in continuities and contrasts from different national and local perspectives.

How does a society recover from a devastating war? This was the question posed in the 1920s as people searched for normality in the aftermath of terrible trauma. Written from the perspective of those who lived, worked and played in the metropolis of greater London, "1920s Britain" uncovers the hardships and stresses of the age, strains which manifested in the general strike of 1926. However, the 1920s was also a time of recovery and hope for the future; London itself was a place of international significance and hope. Delve into the past in this intriguing insight into a difficult time for Britain and the people tasked with its recovery.

Designed specifically for young people, this manual contains a wide range of progressive practice drills to help them develop their fitness. Fun, educational and challenging, all drills are illustrated and cover the essential skills, including: agility speed peripheral vision body awareness strength and general fitness As well as easy-to-follow instructions, each drill contains information on the equipment needed, the space required, how to construct a safe and effective training session and how to organise the athletes.

Designed specifically for young people, this manual contains a wide range of progressive practice drills to help them develop their fitness. Fun, educational and challenging, all drills are illustrated and cover the essential technical skills, including: agility speed peripheral vision body awareness strength and general fitness As well as easy-to-follow instructions, each drill contains information on the equipment needed, the space required, how to construct a safe and effective training session and how to organise the athletes.

Designed specifically for young athletes, this manual contains a wide range of progressive practice drills to help players develop. Fun, educational and challenging, all drills are illustrated and cover the essential technical skills, including: warming uprunningjumpinghurdlingthrowingAs well as easy-to-follow instructions, each drill contains information on the equipment needed, the space required, how to construct a safe and effective training session and how to organise the athletes.

At one time, Liverpool's landing stage was so busy that ships would be literally queuing in the Mersey to discharge and embark passengers. However, the period from the late 1940s saw both the golden age of Liverpool shipping as well as the decline of its passenger trade. From the early 1960s, though, Liverpool's passenger trade entered a decline that was unstoppable. The Jet Age had seen the loss of much of its trade and shipping line after shipping line moved away from the port or stopped its ships sailing and sold them for scrap or service with foreign lines. John Shepherd tells the story, using the memories of those who sailed in them, of the last liners to use Liverpool.

Provides a comprehensive description and analysis into the use of music information retrieval, from the data management perspective.

'The most loveable figure in modern politics' was how A. J. P. Taylor described the Christian pacifist, George Lansbury, who at 73 took over the helm of the Labour Party of only 46 MPs in the Depression years of the 1930s. Throughout a remarkable life, Lansbury remained an extraordinary politician of the people, associated with a multitude of crusades for social justice. He resigned from Parliament to support 'Votes for Women' and for the next ten years edited the fiery Daily Herald. In 1921 Lansbury led the 'Poplar Rates Rebellion' - when thirty Labour councillors went willingly to prison in defiance of the government, the courts, and their own party leadership. As Labour leader, Lansbury was known universally as a committed socialist and an implacable opponent of capitalism and imperialism. He never sought personal wealth, travelled everywhere by public transport, and made his home in impoverished East London. His final years were spent in a tireless international peace crusade to prevent the drift towards another world war. In this major new biography, John Shepherd draws on an impressive range of research to reconstruct the life of a charismatic Labour pioneer. He reaffirms George Lansbury's standing at the heart of Old Labour and his importance to British politics as a whole.

'The most lovable figure in modern politics' was how A. J. P Taylor described the Christian pacifist, George Lansbury. At 73 he took over the helm of the Labour Party of only 46 MPs in the Depression years of the 1930s. Throughout a remarkable life, Lansbury remained an extraordinary politician of the people, associated with a multitude of crusades for social justice. He resigned from Parliament to support 'Votes for Women', and for the next ten years edited the fiery Daily Herald. In 1921 Lansbury led the 'Poplar Rates Rebellion' - when thirty Labour councillors went willingly to prison in defiance of the government, the courts and their own party leadership. As Labour leader, Lansbury was known universally as a committed socialist an implacable opponent of capitalism and imperialism. He never sought personal wealth, travelled everywhere by public transport, and made his home in impoverished East London. His final years were spent in a tireless international peace crusade to prevent the drift towards another world war. In this major new biography, John Shepherd draws on an impressive range of research to reconstruct the life of a charismatic Labour pioneer. He reaffirms George Lansbury's standing at the heart of Old Labour and his importance to British politics as a whole.

In this book Shepherd and Wicke make a bold and original contribution to the understanding of music as a form of human expression. They argue that music is fundamental to social life. Music is not merely a form of leisure or entertainment: it is central to the very formation and reproduction of human societies. The authors pursue this argument through a wide-ranging assessment of some of the major cultural theoretical contributions to understanding music. Theories of culture, linguistic theories, structuralist and post-structuralist theories and psychoanalytic theories of music are carefully explained and critically examined. The authors then develop their own account of music as a non-referential yet material form of human expression which embodies and conveys principles of symbolic structuring. They emphasize the human body as a principal site for the musical mediation of social and symbolic processes. Music and Cultural Theory establishes new links between musicology and cultural studies, showing how each discipline can inform and enrich the other. It will be recommended reading for students and professionals in musicology, media and communication studies, cultural studies and the sociology of culture.

Whose Music? combines historical, musicological, and sociological materials and styles of analysis in ways that connect to the field of sociology. The analyses of social class systems presented here speak in translatable ways to analyses of musical forms. Not only that, both are connected to an understanding of the organizations through which works are distributed to their audiences. Perhaps most importantly for the contemporary reader, this book depicts the part of the process by which dominant class groups justify their domination--cultural and otherwise.